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Anabaptists

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April 2025

April 16, 2025

Twelve Years, Hundreds of Posts, and One Grateful Exit

After a dozen years, I bid farewell to the Anxious Bench.

September 2024

September 20, 2024

Teaching the Faith and Fomenting Contempt in the Reformation

I have been preoccupied over the last few months by the subject of tradition in...

September 18, 2024

Anabaptism Turns 500

That Anabaptism could turn half a millennium old would have shocked early Anabaptists.

May 2024

May 10, 2024

The History of Failure

The history of failure has always inspired me. My own dissertation was written on the...

February 2024

February 23, 2024

The Radical Reformation as Renewal (?)

I have been reading Matthew Barrett’s The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic,...

August 2022

August 05, 2022

Hopeful Apocalypse

“My people are an apocalyptic people. We have resources to help you prepare for the...

May 2022

May 04, 2022

Rome to Rotterdam: The Weaver-Swartzes Go on Pilgrimage

A trip in which we interrogate our familial and religious heritage

April 2022

April 06, 2022

A Tragic Anniversary: The Politics of Jesus Turns Fifty

Reflections on a book of peace written by a violent man

March 2022

March 08, 2022

Why Do American Evangelicals Endorse War as a Christian Cause?

“We feel your prayerful support,” a Ukrainian Christian who is on the front lines fighting...

February 2021

February 10, 2021

The Danger of a Single Mennonite Story

My ancestors weren't as peaceful as advertised.

April 2020

April 14, 2020

Polio, Christians, and the Importance of Vaccination

As we look forward to the day when there's a coronavirus vaccine, Chris considers the...

January 2020

January 23, 2020

Simple Truth: Sex Abuse, the Amish, and the Evangelicals

Last week, journalist Sarah McClure published an investigative report in Cosmopolitan—yes, Cosmopolitan—on the prevalence of...

December 2019

December 18, 2019

Evangelizing the Evangelicals: Peaceful Christians in an Age of Violence

Ron Sider returns to his Anabaptist roots in retirement.

August 2019

August 14, 2019

Yoder School: An Interview with Phyllis Miller Swartz

David interviews his mother Phyllis Miller Swartz about her just-released memoir

January 2019

January 29, 2019

Why Evangelicals Should Read Anabaptist Revisions

Why evangelical readers should follow a new Patheos blog from a pastor-scholar with ample experience...

December 2018

December 05, 2018

The Amish Farmer and the Pietist Prince

Wrestling with my Anabaptist heritage during a recent trip to Germany

October 2017

October 11, 2017

My Grandma and Colin Kaepernick

Reflections on my grandma and Colin Kaepernick's encounter with civil religion

August 2017

August 30, 2017

A Highly Trained Nonviolent Peacekeeping Force

The Mennonites behind the Clergy Protests in Charlottesville

July 2017

July 20, 2017

The Anabaptist Judith

From the Anxious Bench archives... Things were not going well in Münster (in present-day northwestern...

December 2016

December 07, 2016

You Might Be a Mennonite If…

Ervin Beck, a folklorist at Goshen College, recalls growing up in a Mennonite congregation where...

September 2016

September 28, 2016

Hey White Evangelicals, Welcome to Anabaptism

After centuries of relying on sky-high Amish birthrates for church growth, Anabaptism has exploded in...

August 2015

August 19, 2015

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as Secular Hymnody

In 1345, on a cold Tuesday night just before Easter, a miracle happened in Amsterdam....

August 05, 2015

A Report from Mennonite World Conference 2015

Mennonite World Conference doesn’t happen every day. In fact, it’s held only once every six...

July 2015

July 22, 2015

Repressed Mennonites in Little Black Dresses

The image of Mennonites in popular culture is typically flattering. They are often seen as...

July 08, 2015

An Honest Anabaptist Named Jacques

For all their humility and reputation for being “the quiet in the land,” Mennonites sure...

February 2015

February 04, 2015

Molly Worthen on the Mennonites

In 1947 future Christianity Today editor Carl Henry wrote The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism....

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